Sunday, July 27, 2008

EPL 2008-09 : Know Your Clubs

Here i'm bringing one of the best article on English Premier League Clubs who are participating in 2008-09 season. So to all the readers this is the best thing to know the clubs like who they are, what they are and what they did and more...

Stoke City

Stoke is the second oldest club in the league which being founded in 1863 (under the name of Stoke Ramblers) placing them after Notts County in 1862 but before Nottingham Forest in 1865, Sheffield Wednesday and Chesterfield in 1867. Stoke has promoted to the Premier League after 23 years. The clubs nickname is THE POTTERS. The club is currently owned by Kidsgrove Road Ltd, a division of Bet365.

Stoke play their home matches in Britannia Stadium, a 28000 all seater stadium. Prior to this Stoke played their home matches in Victoria Ground for 119 years.

Stoke's major trophy was won in 1972 League Cup. Stoke has won Football League Trophy on two occasion in 1992 and 2000.

Stoke City's current manager is Tony Pulis.

Some of the greatest players were played for the club such as Sir Stanley Matthews, Sir Geoff Hurst, Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton.

Jamaica international Rudolph Austin has also signed subject to a work permit but he was prevented from making his debut in the club's pre-season friendlies. The Potters will undoubtedly make the most of that quota but they cannot rely on other teams doing them favours anymore and need to heavily strengthen in each and every area of the field. Ryan Shawcross, Liam Lawrence and Ricardo Fuller will be capable of stepping up but there are question marks over the majority of their current team-mates, particularly in defence and attack.

The record breaking fee for Kitson, suggests that Pulis and Coates are prepared to pay for quality. However, evidence from TP's teams in the recent past suggest that the final Stoke squad should be greater than the sum of it's parts.

Maybe the other players we sign won't have Kitson's pedigree but every player in the squad will fight to the final whistle and give his all for the cause - we won't do a Derby.We'll have height and strength right down the middle of the side. We may not have have a 20 goal a season striker but Pulis will compensate for this with goals from midfielders like Lawrence. And of course, we'll have goalscoring centre backs - 16 goals came from that position last season!

Once we were a team which never scored from corners, now the corner, the wide freekick and the long throw are amongst our most potent weapons. Pulis will attempt to recreate a "mean" defence - something which was, surprisingly, missing last season.

Will this approach bring success? Well, we won't have the best squad of the teams in the bottom half by a big margin. But then we didn't have the second best squad in the Championship last season!

However, I fully expect us to be competitive in that mini league of six or seven clubs who will be scrapping to avoid relegation. Like most Stokies, I will regard 17th as a success.Pulis has never managed a relegation side and my hunch is he will retain that record - just!

Hull City FCHull City FC is based in East Yorkshire. Founded in 1904 and this is their first ever English Premier League debut. The highest position Hull City have finished is 3rd in the old Second Division in 1909-10, a feat they repeated in 2007-08 when they gained the promotion by beating Bristol City by 1-0 in the play-off. Tyheir greatest achievement in cup competition in 1930 when they reached the semi final of the FA Cup.

Hull City play their home matches in KC Stadium in Hull. Earlier they were playing in Boothferry Park. Hull City were called as THE TIGERS.

Here is some of the major highlights of this club :

1. Andy Davidson holds the record Hull City league appearance, having played 520 matches. George Maddison is standing second, having played 430 matches.

2. Chris Chilton holds the record for goals scored in the League-193, FA Cup-16 and League Cup-10.

3. Hull's widest wining margin is 11-1 against Carlisle United (Division 3) in 1939. Heaviest defeat in the league was 8-0 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1911.

4. Hull's record home attendance is 55,019 for a match against Manchester United in 1949 at Boothfrey Park.

5. The highest transfer fee received for Hull City player is 1.25 million Pounds from Crystal Palace in 2006. The highest transfer fee paid for a player is 2 million Pounds to Plymouth Argyle for Peter Halmosi.

Hull City's current manager is Phil Brown.

So far, midfielder Craig Fagan is the only confirmed signing but having spent last season on loan from Derby he is already familiar to fans. As i concerned, to have a realistic chance of surviving more than one season in the top flight, the Tigers need to strengthen in virtually all areas. With the exception of evergreen pair Dean Windass and Nick Barmby, City are short on Premier League experience.